Virat Kohli scored his 19th half-century in Twenty20 Internationals
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
India captain Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten 61 and Krunal Pandya took four wickets to lead their side to a six-wicket win over Australia in the third Twenty20 International in Sydney.
Electing to bat first, Australia got off to a brilliant start as skipper Aaron Finch and D’Arcy Short amassed a 68-run partnership before Finch was caught by Pandya at short fine leg off the bowling of Kuldeep Yadav for 28.
Short went on to score 33 before he was trapped lbw off the bowling of Pandya, who dismissed Ben McDermott the very next ball.
Glenn Maxwell only scored 13 before he was caught by Rohit Sharma at long-on off the bowling of Pandya.
Alex Carey became Pandya’s fourth victim when he was caught by Kohli at deep midwicket for 27.
Even though Chris Lynn was run out by Jasprit Bumrah for 13, Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile gave Australia a push towards the end of their innings as they scored an unbeaten 25 and 13 not out respectively.
As a result, Australia concluded their innings on 164/6.
Pandya was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Kuldeep chipped in with one.
Chasing 165 to win, India made a strong start to their innings as Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan forged a 67-run stand before Dhawan was trapped lbw off the bowling of Mitchell Starc for a 22-ball 41, which included six boundaries and two sixes.
Rohit ended up making 23 before he was clean bowled by Adam Zampa.
Kohli and Lokesh Rahul steadied things with a 41-run partnership before Rahul was caught by Coulter-Nile at long-off off the bowling of Maxwell for 14.
Rishabh Pant failed to trouble the scorers as he was caught behind off the bowling of Andrew Tye for a golden duck.
Despite losing Rahul and Pant, Kohli and Dinesh Karthik finished things off with an unbeaten 60-run partnership, during which Kohli surpassed his half-century.
Kohli finished on 61, which came off 41 balls and included four boundaries and two sixes, while Karthik remained undefeated on an 18-ball 22, which included a boundary and a six.
Starc, Zampa, Maxwell and Tye claimed one wicket each.
Pandya was named Man of the Match.